HELP
I burned the bottom (inside) of an expensive stainless steel pan with olive oil the other morning and i CAN NOT get the stupid thing clean!!!! I can't use steel wool or anything with bleach, and I feel like I've been scrubbing for hours and hours to no effect. What can I try?

Barkeeper's Friend works wonders. It's powdered like Comet, but doesn't scratch. I use it in my sink to take out the pan marks, in the tub on occasion, and it works well on pans, too. Oh and I much prefer the powder to the liquid.

There is a cleaning link on that page, but I didn't check it out.

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Jan

When asking questions ALWAYS post the name and a link for the pattern if you have it.

Have you tried to deglaze the pan?
You heat it up with nothing in it (it needs to start smoking a little bit) then add about a half cup of soapy water to the hot pan and then take a green scrubber (using a rubber spatula) rub it around while the water bubbles n sizzles. You'd be surprised at how that works. If the oil has turned to varnish though you might have to use a degreaser and let it soak for a bit to get it off.

I boil mine out with baking soda and white vinegar. I have one pan that my MIL put in the dishwasher and the oil stain has turned to varnish. It's in the bottom of a stock pot that I don't use too much (much prefer my cast iron dutch oven) so I just live with it. It doesn't seem to get any worse when I do use it and it doesn't seem to give an off flavor to anything...

My new favorite cleaner is CLR, not sure if you can use that on stainless steel or not....

The trick to not do this again is to never heat the pan over high heat. That's what did it in the first place. I believe they addressed this subject on America's Test Kitchen, on PBS with Cristopher Kimball as the owner/host. He also publishes a magazine titled "Cook's Illustrated'' that should be a bible for anyone that wants to learn how and why ingredients do things the way they do in a recipe. I wish it was around when I learned to cook 40+ years ago. Look for it in the bookstore, and you will become a fan like I am.
Cait